Cornish Pirates 10 Rotherham Titans 28: Blackett’s boys put on a show for cameras as Titans rise

They jumped above Nottingham into fourth position, at the same time as putting a huge dent in the Pirates’ own hopes of reaching the end-of-season semi-finals.

Delighted Titans head coach Lee Blackett said: “I thought our performance was really professional.

“We exited really well. We had a great chase and our work ethic was outstanding.

“We were hurt by our performance against Worcester in front of the cameras, and we wanted to go out there and show our improvement and show that we are a lot better than that display.”

Rotherham’s victory was built on an excellent first-half display, where they played the game in the right areas of the pitch and were accurate and precise in their execution.

Two penalties by man-of-the-match fly-half James McKinney gave them a 6-0 lead, but Pirates countered with a penalty from Kieran Hallett, who moments earlier had missed a simple kick.

Titans winger Curtis Wilson then crossed for his fifth try of the season, with the ball moved wide after flanker Alex Rieder had been held up just short.

McKinney saw his conversion come back off an upright, but seven minutes later, a catch-and-drive line-out was finished off by flanker Jack Preece. McKinney converted and added a penalty to leave Rotherham in the driving seat at 21-3 at the break.

Pirates started the second half well, scrum-half Tom Kessell shooting over for a converted try, converted by Laurence May.

Titans put the icing on the cake with a last-minute catch-and-drive try from Rieder, converted by McKinney.

Cornish Pirates: Bodilly, Evans (Pope 63), Hendrickson, James (Dancer 47), Holland, Hallett (May 51), Kessell, Andrew (Ford-Robinson 74), Channon (Innard 14), Ford-Robinson (Paver 63), Carrick Smith (Bolwell 47), Barry, Morgan (capt) (Parker 24-30), Atkinson, McGlone (Parker 69).

Rotherham Titans: Scanlon, Keating, Gill, Davies, Wilson, McKinney, White, Hislop (Williams 68), Cruse (capt) (Thiede 60), Tampin (Sowrey 60), Maddison, Robinson (Holmes 55), Rieder, Preece (Birch 68), Morris. Unused replacements: Barrett, Cooke.

Referee: G Macdonald (RFU).